2019 Winners & Shortlists

THE SUN FLAME GRILLED WHOPPER

Short List
BrandBURGER KING
Product/ServiceBURGER KING
EntrantMEMAC OGILVY KUWAIT Kuwait City, KUWAIT
CategoryUse of Stunts
Idea Creation MEMAC OGILVY KUWAIT Kuwait City, KUWAIT
Media Placement SENYAR INNOVATIVE MEDIA Hawally, KUWAIT
PR MEMAC OGILVY KUWAIT Kuwait City, KUWAIT
Production BOOMTOWN PRODUCTIONS Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Additional Company BURGER KING KUWAIT (KFG) Kuwait City, KUWAIT

Why is this work relevant for Media?

When the Sun's fury in Kuwait was impacting Burger King's business and taking the consumers' attention, we hijacked the conversations and diverted the attention to the brand by doing the unlikely: instead of trying to fight the Sun, we partnered with it! Staying true to the brand's core of flame - grilling, we made the world's first Sun Flame - Grilled Whopper: the iconic Whopper flame - grilled using the power of the Sun. The news of this unusual partnership spread far and wide generating whopping coverage leading to strong positive impact on brand sales, awareness & engagement.

Background.

The Post – Ramadan summer 2018 was a challenging one for Burger King Kuwait. Many people had left the country and soaring temperatures forced those who stayed to stay indoors - Consumers' interest, engagement & sales were declining & there was no news to give till September '18. With the marketing budget for this period being 70% lesser than usual, it wasn't easy to find our way into the minds of the already less – interested consumers. To generate significant reach, we needed an idea that would garner fame and attention beyond what could be paid for. The client’s brief was – “Make people hear about the brand from their friends in the region & abroad”. We needed to create something that would get not just the local media interest but get virality & share-ability on a regional & international level, putting Burger King Kuwait on the global map.

Describe the creative idea/insights

With summer temperatures going beyond 50ºC, Kuwait is known to be the hottest place on Earth. But the people of Kuwait have kind of a love – hate relationship with summer. While they don’t really enjoy being in the weather, they secretly enjoy talking about the infamous ‘hottest place’ tag for the country. The Sun's fury doesn't give them the freedom to roam, but the Sun takes all their attention & interest! So how could we make Burger King gain the consumers attention when the biggest barrier to its business is the Sun itself? Our idea was simple: If you can't fight the Sun, join it! We decided to partner the Sun by leveraging the one brand truth that sets Burger King apart from its competitors: Flame - Grilling! Presenting the world's first Sun Flame – Grilled Whopper: The iconic Whopper flame – grilled by the Sun!

Describe the strategy.

While fast food appeals to a wide age – band of consumers, we decided to focus on the 18 – 35 year olds. Mainly because: 1. It represents the core demographic for Burger fast food category 2. Burger King attracted lesser number of consumers from this age band and more from the higher age band despite not targeting that segment. We took this as an opportunity to engage with the younger audience. Our research pointed that for this audience, Interesting, talk-worthy content = cool brand. So we planned our idea as a unique brand experience that would be executed as a surprise activation that would be leveraged to create entertaining & news - worthy content for social media. We didn't want to push the content to consumers but wanted them to organically engage with it. So didn't have any media planning except for prioritization of the brand's social media channels.

Describe the execution.

We created a solar machine (in partnership with SolSourceTM) that harnesses the power of the Sun’s rays to create the ultimate flame – grill experience for the consumers. On one of the hottest days in July 2018, when the temperature touched 50°C, Burger King Kuwait surprised the consumers at one of its flagship stores by serving the 100% Sun Flame – Grilled Whopper sandwiches. As the marketing budget was strictly limited, we wanted the activity to be done in such a way that it generates social engagement and press coverage. The whole experience right from the consumers’ surprise on hearing about the new sandwich, the Whopper being Sun flame – grilled to the initially skeptical consumers’ enjoying the sandwich was recorded and we created engaging brand content from it. The video content was posted the brand's social media channels. We partnered with 2 popular 'newscaster' influencers to amplify the reach.

List the results.

Business results: - 12% Increase in Jul - Aug '18 sales as compared to last year Awareness & Preference: - Burger King's TOM Awareness amongst the target audience went up by a whopping 17%. To put things in perspective, the brand's TOM Awareness had increased by 6% in the past 4 months. - Burger King's rating as the "Favorite Restaurant" increased by 63% Coverage: - Generated more than 40 Million Earned Media impressions worth more than $7.5 Million, with the news spreading to more than 25 countries across 6 continents through 150+ pieces of coverage. Social Media: - The video content got more than 2 million views in just 3 days, with 40% higher engagement - The content got organically covered by more than 7 prominent influencers Looking at the results, we had only one thing to say - sometimes, it's cool to be in the hottest place on earth!

Credits

Name Company Role
Nabil Touma Memac Ogilvy Managing Director, Kuwait
Juliana Paracencio Memac Ogilvy Regional Creative Director
Luiz Vicente Simões Memac Ogilvy Regional Creative Director
Karim Sherif Memac Ogilvy Creative Director
Mario Daou Memac Ogilvy Creative Director
Bhaskar Bateja Memac Ogilvy Planning Director
Marianne Bechara Memac Ogilvy Account Director
Eric Sarkis Memac Ogilvy Account Executive
Nidal Howil Memac Ogilvy Account Manager
Alba Xhixha Memac Ogilvy PR Director
Mimi Alexander Memac Ogilvy PR Associate Director
May Allam Memac Ogilvy PR Executive
Sajjad Waliya, Salam Alaqel Memac Ogilvy Copywriter
Hyunseo Yoo Memac Ogilvy Graphic Designer
Anil Joy Memac Ogilvy Graphic Designer
Sajid Kalymurthy, Mijoy Jose Memac Ogilvy Animation
Bruno Rodrigo de Miranda Memac Ogilvy Animation
Aurangzeib Zafar, Zeina Abu Zaid Memac Ogilvy Editor
Muhammad Umair Memac Ogilvy Photographer
Angelos Arampatzis Burger King Kuwait (KFG) Marketing Director
Zeinab Hassan Burger King Kuwait (KFG) Marketing Manager
Haneen Sukkariah Burger King Kuwait (KFG) Assistant Manager - Marketing
Shane Martin Boomtown Productions Executive Producer
Rory McLaughlin Boomtown Productions Director
Randi Stephan Boomtown Productions Director Of Photography
Suersh Nair, Mannu Singh Boomtown Productions Editor
Mohamad Deeb Senyar Innovative Media Senior Social Media Officer
Saud Al Bassam Senyar Innovative Media Senior Social Media Officer
Ahmad Dahi Senyar Innovative Media Celebrity Coordinator
Rula Nadar Senyar Innovative Media Social Media Officer
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